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Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Review - Before The Fall by Noah Hawley

A plane crashes in the ocean and only a man and a boy
survives. What happened? This is the nagging questions that all the involved
parties try to answer. This novel does a great job at showing how faith and
human choices conspired to gather the plane’s passengers on that one flight and
how the mass and the media are trying to analyse their actions in hindsight.
The reader is presented by the background story and events of all the
passengers that lead them to get on that plane including their families. The
airplanes crew and the investigators are also scrutinized by the author digging
deep into their past without hindering the progression of the plot. Every story
is unique and all the characters had depth and personality to make their
actions seem the plausible thing to do.

Although the novel was a quick read it is not a fast pace
thriller since the story mimics the agonizing lengthy search for the plane
debris and bodies.

Despite the great writing style and the well-rounded plot
this novel is a good read but not a memorable one. I didn't feel an eager to
devour the book nor to know the ending. There weren’t any scenes that made me
connect emotionally to the book. I didn't feel frustration with the long search
nor pity for the lonely survivors nor even angry when I knew the raison for the
crash. All of those emotions would have made me connect and engage more with
novel and making it more memorable. Instead the novel felt like a long news
bulletin on TV that caught my interest and watched but then as soon as it was
done I closed the set and moved on with my life not taking anything with me.